The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Dylanfan253 said:
I recently ordered a NAD CD player, before I start buying cd’s is there any advice on what to look out for both pros and cons. I have over the last year acquired a lot of vinyl and obviously along the way I made plenty of mistakes and bad decisions and would like to avoid as many as possible as I start to add cd’s to my library.
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For CDs, the mastering is really the main thing to check, if anything. They are generally easier, unless you're getting used at which point you just need to check for big scratches. You might end up finding that sometimes the CD master/press is better than the vinyl press, which is why I personally prefer to keep both in the system.

HuddieLedbetter said:
Hi all -- Acoustic Sounds has the Chord Hugo at $1400 and the Mojo at $349. Is the Mojo still a good purchase? (I'm mindful that it is a couple years old, etc. and don't really know this space....).
They seem like great deals, but obsolescence?

httpss://store.acousticsounds.com/d/109527/Chord_Electronics_Limited-MOJO_Mobile_Headphone_Amp__DAC-Headphone_Amplifier
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A good DAC is still a good DAC. The Mojo isn't an end game dac, but the portable headphone factor is a nice touch. If you purely need a DAC, there may be better priced options, even at $350. Massdrop really has been mixing it up in that price point.
 
displayname said:
I dream of the day I'm done with student loans. They are less daunting every year, but I still have a little ways to go.
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I was thinking I'd have a useful reserve at the end of this financial year. Unfortunately because I've had to be super honest declaring earnings for the last year (to maximise borrowing to secure my house), today I paid $8,000 in tax which puts pay to the reserve idea.

It doesn't help my next car lease isn't terribly sensible either but, meh
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
Yowser -- any reviews on that Luxman?
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The L550axii is really amazing. I started out with a Yamaha AVR receiver, moved from that to a Yamaha RN803 then to a Prima Luna Prologue Premium. Each of these steps were an incremental step forward from a sound standpoint. The biggest however was the jump from the PL to the Luxman. I have Forte III's now, but when I made the switch I had Heresy III's.

All of the traits that made the PL tube amp so great with the Heresy's (smooth sound, deep background, great soundstage) the Luxman Class A brought to whole different level. I'm struggling with the right way to describe the sound. With all the prior amps, there was always some kind of background noise to music.. like a little hiss almost imperceptible but it took away from the illusion that the music was floating in front of me. The Luxman at only 20 watts pure class A has the blackest background I've ever heard. I can turn it up 50 and hear nothing. Midrange seems almost liquid, like it just oozes out of the speakers. Its different, and the upgrade to the Fortes has proven an even better match. The smooth mids are supported by a much more beefy low end.. not bloated, but powerful, tight. And the uppers are very airy.

The Luxman Class A (L550 and L590)/Klipsch Heritage combo is amazing. I would highly recommend! If I ever get a bigger space, I would look into the L590/Cornwall combo. I imagine that would be incredible for a medium to large space.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
The L550axii is really amazing. I started out with a Yamaha AVR receiver, moved from that to a Yamaha RN803 then to a Prima Luna Prologue Premium. Each of these steps were an incremental step forward from a sound standpoint. The biggest however was the jump from the PL to the Luxman. I have Forte III's now, but when I made the switch I had Heresy III's.

All of the traits that made the PL tube amp so great with the Heresy's (smooth sound, deep background, great soundstage) the Luxman Class A brought to whole different level. I'm struggling with the right way to describe the sound. With all the prior amps, there was always some kind of background noise to music.. like a little hiss almost imperceptible but it took away from the illusion that the music was floating in front of me. The Luxman at only 20 watts pure class A has the blackest background I've ever heard. I can turn it up 50 and hear nothing. Midrange seems almost liquid, like it just oozes out of the speakers. Its different, and the upgrade to the Fortes has proven an even better match. The smooth mids are supported by a much more beefy low end.. not bloated, but powerful, tight. And the uppers are very airy.

The Luxman Class A (L550 and L590)/Klipsch Heritage combo is amazing. I would highly recommend! If I ever get a bigger space, I would look into the L590/Cornwall combo. I imagine that would be incredible for a medium to large space.
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This is really great detail. I'm in the process of buying my "end game" speakers and the integrated vs. standalone is top of mind. (I struggle as I have a DAC/Streamer coming and I like my phono pre...but I don't have a pre-amp today....) Thank you for taking the time.
 
HuddieLedbetter said:
This is really great detail. I'm in the process of buying my "end game" speakers and the integrated vs. standalone is top of mind. (I struggle as I have a DAC/Streamer coming and I like my phono pre...but I don't have a pre-amp today....) Thank you for taking the time.
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My pleasure. Good luck in your hunt! Let us know what you decide!
 
A little Vega update after the first couple days. I have given up on the Lightning DS interface. It’s a bit too buggy for my liking. Disappointed to be honest.

I spent the day chit-chatting with in laws and creating a 3500 track playlist on Tidal. When I try to play it tonight it crashes the app. Enough. Thought about just boxing it back up, but decided that I was interested enough in the Roon platform that I’d give it a go.

Onto Roon it is. Don’t hear too many complaints about that interface. Should be an improvement.

But if you might be considering an Auralic piece that relies on their Lightning DS app, know that you might be looking for an alternative pretty quickly. Basically has added another $1k because I needed a laptop and the lifetime Roon membership.

I should point out that it sounds amazing. The soundstage width and depth is bonkers.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
A little Vega update after the first couple days. I have given up on the Lightning DS interface. It’s a bit too buggy for my liking. Disappointed to be honest.

I spent the day chit-chatting with in laws and creating a 3500 track playlist on Tidal. When I try to play it tonight it crashes the app. Enough. Thought about just boxing it back up, but decided that I was interested enough in the Roon platform that I’d give it a go.

Onto Roon it is. Don’t hear too many complaints about that interface. Should be an improvement.

But if you might be considering an Auralic piece that relies on their Lightning DS app, know that you might be looking for an alternative pretty quickly. Basically has added another $1k because I needed a laptop and the lifetime Roon membership.

I should point out that it sounds amazing. The soundstage width and depth is bonkers.
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Man, I'm sorry to hear that. I've heard nothing but positive things about Lightning. I will say that I've talked to several people who reassured their wifi routers once Hi Res streaming came in.
 
displayname said:
For CDs, the mastering is really the main thing to check, if anything. They are generally easier, unless you're getting used at which point you just need to check for big scratches. You might end up finding that sometimes the CD master/press is better than the vinyl press, which is why I personally prefer to keep both in the system.



A good DAC is still a good DAC. The Mojo isn't an end game dac, but the portable headphone factor is a nice touch. If you purely need a DAC, there may be better priced options, even at $350. Massdrop really has been mixing it up in that price point.
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I’m going into it open minded it’s entirely possible I may start looking for cd’s more then records.
One of the enjoyable things about records is that I can listen for many hours without my ears having any discomfort. When I listen to music via Apple Music from my phone through my AVR I can only listen for a short period before I notice my ears hurting.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
But if you might be considering an Auralic piece that relies on their Lightning DS app, know that you might be looking for an alternative pretty quickly. Basically has added another $1k because I needed a laptop and the lifetime Roon membership.
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There is a proviso here. There are lightning devices and there are lightning server devices. The Vega G2 is a lightning device and this means it cannot render its own server and is dependent on another device to do so. The Aries and Altar will render their own libraries via lighting server and this does tend to make them more stable particularly with larger libraries. In the case of owning the Vega, Roon is almost certainly the best way to go but yes, it’s more cost unfortunately.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Picked up the new laptop today , loaded Roon with no issue, got the Roon App installed on my phone, and voila! Everything is perfect. No set up issues, no connection issues.. I've barely scratched the surface, but the Roon interface is awesome!!
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Yeah it is, i absolutely love it, revolutionised the storage and playing of my files!
 
Been a fun 24 hrs...

Spent last night and this morning listening to the Vega while combining all my subscriptions ( I use Tidal, but my kids use my old Spotify, and my father uses my Amazon Music account) and all my old itunes purchases which I haven't used in years, into the Roon software. Now have a 7k+ track list that I can play with. I used Soundiiz to combine Amazon and Spotify into Tidal. Then moved the Tidal over to Roon.

The next step wasn't easy, and not sure it was the best way to solve the issue. iTunes tracks went into my Roon Library and were sorted into albums, tracks, etc.. I believe all the Tidal tracks that I had favorited were there too. But all my Tidal playlists, which is mainly how I have used Tidal, were in a different Roon file under Tidal. I wanted to be able to have all my tracks from all sources in my Roon library. My solution: I combined all my Tidal playlists into one master playlist, then sorted that playlist by album, then added every album to the library one at a time. It was pretty tedious, and took hours, but I got the end result I wanted. Let me know if there was a much easier way to do this.. I won't cry if I wasted a ton of time. Maybe.

I do have a question. When I was previously shuffling the Tidal Playlist on Roon, there was a queue of songs. Showed what I had played and what was upcoming in the shuffle. When I now shuffle the tracks in the Roon Library, the Queue function only shows what has played, not what is upcoming. I can add upcoming songs to the queue manually by selecting the thumbs up, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it happen automatically. Or is it not possible? Not really a big deal, but it was cool to be able to see what was coming.

Thanks in advance for any info!
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Been a fun 24 hrs...

Spent last night and this morning listening to the Vega while combining all my subscriptions ( I use Tidal, but my kids use my old Spotify, and my father uses my Amazon Music account) and all my old itunes purchases which I haven't used in years, into the Roon software. Now have a 7k+ track list that I can play with. I used Soundiiz to combine Amazon and Spotify into Tidal. Then moved the Tidal over to Roon.

The next step wasn't easy, and not sure it was the best way to solve the issue. iTunes tracks went into my Roon Library and were sorted into albums, tracks, etc.. I believe all the Tidal tracks that I had favorited were there too. But all my Tidal playlists, which is mainly how I have used Tidal, were in a different Roon file under Tidal. I wanted to be able to have all my tracks from all sources in my Roon library. My solution: I combined all my Tidal playlists into one master playlist, then sorted that playlist by album, then added every album to the library one at a time. It was pretty tedious, and took hours, but I got the end result I wanted. Let me know if there was a much easier way to do this.. I won't cry if I wasted a ton of time. Maybe.

I do have a question. When I was previously shuffling the Tidal Playlist on Roon, there was a queue of songs. Showed what I had played and what was upcoming in the shuffle. When I now shuffle the tracks in the Roon Library, the Queue function only shows what has played, not what is upcoming. I can add upcoming songs to the queue manually by selecting the thumbs up, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it happen automatically. Or is it not possible? Not really a big deal, but it was cool to be able to see what was coming.

Thanks in advance for any info!
Click to expand...

It took me 2-3 weeks of importing, downloading, re-tagging and adding albums from Qobuz before I had my collection how I wanted it on the NUC! It’s worth the pain though. I’ve spent this afternoon listening to the football on online radio through it and I now have some classical music playing through it whilst I clean my apartment!

i mainly play albums though, never been a big playlist fan. When I add them to the queue the one playing is top and all the next ones following on appear underneath it in order.
 
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